China has a four-tier color-coded snow warning system: red, orange, yellow and blue, red being the most serious.

By 10 a.m. on Sunday, the capital had received an average daily precipitation of over 58 mm, a post-1951 record for the city during China’s Nov.-March winter period, according to the Beijing Meteorological Center.

A housing crisis loomed in New York City as victims of superstorm Sandy struggled on Sunday without heat in near-freezing temperatures, and officials fretted displaced residents would not be able to vote in Tuesday’s presidential election.

Snow has fallen across a large part of NSW and the ACT, closing roads and disrupting public transport.

Goulburn residents woke to snow this morning, as did people in Katoomba, Mt Blackheath, Mt Victoria and Mittagong. There have been reports of snow in the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands, while Canberra has received 10 centimetres.Read more here

COLD weather has caused vegetable prices to skyrocket and some crops have reached “one-in-10-year” heights.
The booming prices have provided some much-needed relief to vegetable farmers across the Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim.

…Labelling Australia one of the “canaries in the coalmine” for the effects of global warming, Mr Gore told a breakfast launch in Canberra of a new Climate Commission report there was much cause for optimism about global efforts to solve the problem…